What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 3 September 2022.

Vlkova was built in 1878.

Jakub Vlk was a radical Hussite priest. After Jan Želivský died in 1422, he took over as preacher at Our Lady of the Snows (Panny Marie Sněžné, on Jungmannovo náměstí).

He was expelled in 1434 and took refuge in Hradec Králové with Ambrož of Hradec (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/21/prague-3-day-68-ambrozova/).

Briefly imprisoned in 1437, he moved to Kolín upon his release and died there in 1439.

That wasn’t too deep a story, so let’s take a look at the street’s previous names.

From 1878 to 1940, and again from 1945 to 1948, this was Palackého, after František Palacký (1798-1876), the key figure of the Czech National Revival.

From 1940 to 1945, the street was Vojtěcha Raňkova, after Vojtěch Raňkův z Ježova / Adalbertus Ranconis de Ericinio (1320-ish to 1388), a theologian who helped introduce the ideas of John Wycliffe to the Czech Lands (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-26-viklefova/).

From 1948 to 1961, it was Dobrovolců. The Dobrovolci (volunteers) were the volunteers of the Prague 28th regiment.

In November 1918, they were given the task of guarding Czechoslovakia’s borders, a task they took on until August 1919, when Slovakia was liberated and by which time a regular army had been formed.